It’s usually a day that those of us who don’t have children at home to sleep in – at least for a little while, a day to remember Christmases past, a day with family and friends. It’s a day when all the hype about buying gifts is over – but, wait! Tomorrow starts the post-Christmas sales. My mother, the ever frugal survivor of the Depression. Would make out her list for what she needed – or wanted – and plan to shop.
This year it’s also the same day as the first day of Hanukah, the celebration of the rededication of the Temple in the Maccabean revolt against an oppressor and a miracle of one day’s supply of oil lasting eight days.
In some countries, celebrations occur the night before and the Day is for worship; in England, gifts are not traditionally given until Boxing Day, the day after so we focus on what Christmas is supposed to be about on the Day. Although we may have different ways of explaining what Christmas means, it is ultimately about some form of hope, that in some way God is always with us in all our joys, in all our sorrows.
Prayer for the Day
We hear the old hymns and look for your signs of hope, O God,
For at times it seems as if we only see the empty sky;
We listen to the Christmas story and seek its meaning, O Lord,
For we wonder about its relevance in our day and time.
Shake us loose from our stagnation, O Holy One,
So we rise this Day acknowledging the reality of your Presence.
In the name of the One who gives us hope,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
What good is it to me that Mary gave birth to the son of God fourteen hundred years ago, and I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my time and in my culture? We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the Divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? This then is the fullness of time, when the Son of God is begotten in us. God is always needing to be born.
Meister Eckhart, German mystic and theologian (1260 -1327)
Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we give, its Christmas.
Dale Evans, American actress, singer, songwriter (1912-2001)
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Luke 2:20